Vision for better connected rail travel

By
HANNAH KNIGHT

AN airport rail link from Southern Cross Station will make travel easier for regional Victorians, says Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder.

POSITIVE: Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder during a press conference in Bendigo this week.

AN airport rail link from Southern Cross Station will make travel easier for regional Victorians, says Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder.

"It will mean that people from Epsom, people from Bendigo and your other stations here, that their holiday starts when they get on a train at a station," he said.

"They'll be able to go directly to Melbourne airport and that's going to be a real win for people in regional Victoria.

"For people in regional Victoria who had to drive all the way and then park in a long stay car park and pay a fair bit of money for it, it will make a huge difference to the way that they move around.

"If they're going interstate, if they're travelling overseas with their family, they'll be able to get to the airport by rail.

"That is going to be a real legacy the Napthine government will leave behind."

Mr Mulder made the comments during a press conference in Bendigo this week when he turned the first sod on the new Epsom Train Station project.

“The station will be completed before the end of the year, meaning that for the first time in 40 years Epsom residents will have access to trains," he said.

"Four trains each weekday will stop at Epsom when it opens.

"Certainly, for the people of this community to have their own railway station, I'd say they'll be over-the-moon."

Mr Mulder said bus timetables would be realigned to fit in with train timetables as part of the Regional Rail Link Project.

"There will be additional bus services provided and once again we'll have that connectivity between the different modes of transport and that's what we want to see across the state is a connected public transport system where people can go from bus to train, tram to train in Melbourne, and do so with a degree of comfort," he said.

The new Epsom Train Station is being built at the corner of Station Street and Howard Street.

Plans for the new station include a 160-metre platform with shelters, ticketing services, bicycle hoops, a bus stop and parking for 100 cars.